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Audi and Hyundai team up to boost hydrogen fuel cell cars

Hyundai agreed a deal with Audi on Wednesday to collaborate on hydrogen car technology, hoping to boost an energy segment that has lagged behind battery electric vehicles. The South Korean firm wants to increase the sales and acceptance of hydrogen cars, which are propelled by electricity generated by fuel cells but have been held back by a lack of infrastructure and the push for battery electric vehicles by the likes of Tesla. The pair will be able to access each other's intellectual property and share components, including any new parts developed by Audi, which is responsible for hydrogen fuel cell technology in the Volkswagen Group, the world's biggest car seller. Hyundai hopes that the move will create greater demand for vehicles such as its ix35 model and bring down costs to make the technology profitable. "We want to provide to our component suppliers more chance and we want to have competition between component suppliers," Sae Hoon Kim, the head of Hyundai's R&D fuel cell group, told Reuters in an interview in London. "We also want to make them to have competition with other suppliers, and that competition will bring down the cost." Carmakers such as Toyota have touted the benefits of hydrogen vehicles, which take less time to refuel than the recharge times of battery electric cars, but are expensive and suffer from a lack of refuelling stations. Many carmakers are focusing on battery electric vehicles, which can take between half an hour and half a day to recharge, but are increasingly able to use a growing network of charging points. Auto firms are teaming up to share the cost of developing greener technologies to replace combustion engines as regulators around the world crack down on emissions. GM and Honda have a partnership to jointly develop electric vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells that are expected to go on sale in 2020, while BMW is working with Toyota. Kim said that a toughening of European Union carbon emission limits in 2025 would create a need for more hydrogen cars. Hyundai sold 200 such models last year and expects to sell thousands this year, but Kim said profitability was still far off. "100,000 or 300,000 vehicles per year per company, when that comes, I think we can make money," he said. Reporting by Costas PitasRelated Video: Image Credit: Getty Auto News Green Plants/Manufacturing Audi Hyundai Alternative Fuels Future Vehicles Hydrogen Cars

Is this the Audi C-BEV Concept?

The head of R&D at Audi, Ulrich Hackenberg, used part of his comments at the company's annual conference to broach the subject of an all-electric SUV. He didn't give many details, but he said it would be based on the same MLB 2 platform as the Q7, would have a range of more than 311 miles, and perhaps use a battery rated at 90 kWh. German publication Auto Motor und Sport has just published sketches of what that SUV, supposedly codenamed C-BEV internally, will look like when we see it in concept form at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Autocar's sources say this is a five-seat, "production-relevant zero-emissions concept" that offers hints about the coming Q6 and how Audi plans to battle the BMW X6 and Tesla Model X. Autocar says the lithium-ion battery, placed inside the platform, could hit that 90 kWh number, and power three electric motors. One of the motors is mounted in the transmission, two more at the rear axle, and combined output is reportedly 500 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Styling will aim for something coupe-ish, the company expecting it to be so sleek that it will have a coefficient of drag under .30. For comparison, the Audi A6 has a Cd of .28. All-out luxury is the word here, with interior architecture shared with the next A8, and "Range Rover rivaling ride quality." We're not sure if this has anything to do with Audi's announcement that it will show a concept with OLED matrix lighting at Frankfurt, but the production vehicle that the Frankfurt concept leads to will go on sale in late 2018.

New Audi R8 Spyder V10 Plus is a topless brute

If the "normal" 540-horsepower R8 Spyder isn't doing it for you, the wait is over. Audi has upped its convertible, mid-engined Huracan sibling to Plus spec, which means the FSI V10 gets a whopping 70-horsepower bump, all the way up to 610. Plus, like its lowlier sibling, you get a power folding soft top that goes up or down at up to 31 mph. But wait, there's more! The normal R8 Spyder can hit 60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds, according to the manufacturer, while the new one will hit 62 mph in 3.3 seconds. (Since the first specs we have are for the European version, we get 0-100 km times rather than 0-60 mph times. It's clear the V10 Plus is notably quicker.) No matter where you buy one, each V10 Plus will rev out to 8,700 rpm. Top speed increases slightly, to 203.8 mph – much faster than you'd want to go with the top down, surely. The rest of the powertrain is standard R8. There's a seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch gearbox, the only transmission available, and Quattro all-wheel drive standard. Like the standard R8, it can send up to 100 percent of its power to either axle in extreme situations, and there's a rear differential locker for added traction. While a variable-assist steering rack is an option, the standard steering box is an electromechanical unit. Inside and out, there's a lot of exotic stuff. Optional Audi laser headlights and standard Audi virtual cockpit tick the box for Euro technophiles, while diehard Audi Sport enthusiasts will appreciate the carbon fiber diffuser that adds up to 220 pounds of downforce to the package. Speaking of pounds, that top weighs 97 pounds, but the total package weighs 55 less than the regular R8 Spyder. That weight savings is due to lightweight bucket seats, carbon ceramic brakes (15 inches up front, 14 in the back), and lighter alloy wheels. The cars will be delivered in Europe in late summer. We'll know more about US-market cars soon, surely.